Yesterday I shared a layout and card featuring new Silhouette Print & Cut designs that will be available this coming Thursday (July 16th). Here's another layout showing a couple of the tabs and another monogram in use. :)
On the left side of the layout I added one of the P&C tabs into the background design by placing it right above the die cut square of the boy and girl. On the right side I added a P&C tab above my photo and placed the P&C monogram next to the photo. I added a date sticker and a punched heart to dress up the monogram a bit. :)
When designing this page I already had a bunch of tabs cut so I that I could just pick and choose. In fact, that's my tip for this post (regarding the P&C feature and designs for the Silhouette): resize a bunch of the P&C designs in your Craft Robo software, print them out and then cut them out and you have a bunch of great accents ready for use on your next project.
I absolutely love that circle background. Perfect framing for adding little embellishments, stamping, etc.
The nested squares made the perfect frame for my die cut boy and girl. I just ungrouped the image and deleted any of the lines/squares I didn't need. I cut the frame first and then deleted the inner line and cut it twice more: once from the white background and once from the acetate for the background.
I'll have more shares this coming week plus a tutorial on using the print and cut. Check back on Thursday for more fun!
Well, it's getting late and I better head to bed. I'm a single mama this weekend while daddy is out of town. Lots to do tomorrow. :)
I am really so, so honored to be able to play with Hero Arts stamps and do projects for them from time to time. They are an absolutely amazing company. So nice to work with. Incredible stamps that are made in the USA. They are a green company and hands down some of the nicest people I have ever had the honor of getting to know. :)
Next week they are launching a new look on their website & blog and are having a week-long celebration! The celebration starts Monday and the new look will be unveiled on Wednesday!
...Silhouette Sneak Peek...
I always look forward to the new Silhouette release every two weeks but I am more excited than usual for this coming week's Silhouette release. Why you ask? What makes this release different from all the others?
That's right! Fabulous new designs that you print out using your computer and then cut on your Silhouette. It's SO easy and SO fun! I had a blast putting together samples using the Print & Cut designs (as well as the regular die cut designs). :)
I have to admit, I was so intimidated by this feature. I had tried it twice before with no luck but once I saw these new designs I was determined to figure it out. I'll share my tips on what worked for me after the samples.
First, here's a layout utilizing a new monogram Print & Cut and also a tab.
Black/White Dot Paper, Green Dot Paper (Scenic Route)
Silver Metallic Embossed Paper (American Crafts Specialty Paper)
Notch Tool (Making Memories)
Date Stamp
How about a card using a Print & Cut Monogram:
I love that you can resize the images to work for your particular project, just like with their regular die cut designs. This card was so quick and easy to put together.
Kerri Bradford shared great tips and a tutorial over on the Quickutz Blog. Check it out HERE.
Tips on using Print & Cut:
The Print & Cut designs I'm sharing here will be available for download just like the regular die cut designs. That means you can pick and choose which designs you want to buy (no buying an entire CD or anything like that), however, the designs are so fabulous you will probably want them all! :)
Make sure and read through the tutorial HERE on how to use Print & Cut. It's pretty straight forward. I'm also going to attempt a tutorial here next week with screen shots (probably on Thursday when the new designs are released).
I used Epson Luster Photo Paper to print out all the examples I am sharing on my blog. I found that the colors "bled" too much on regular cardstock. The colors are so rich and vibrant printed on photo paper. Love that! Kerri also suggests Presentation Paper as a great medium for printing on.
If your Silhouette has trouble reading the registration marks for Print & Cut, try darkening the room (shutting the blinds, turning the lights off or even covering the lid of the Silhouette with a dark sheet of paper) and make sure and close the cover for cutting (I never shut it for regular cutting but it really does help for Print & Cut).
The biggest thing that helped me....use anew style cutting mat. Seriously. I was having the worst time with getting my machine (I have the original Silhouette) to recognize the registration marks until I tried new style cutting mat. I don't like change much and have been using my stash of old style cutting mats but no more! My machine has cut the designs every single time now. No more sitting here for 2 1/2 hours in frustration wondering why it won't cut! (Yes, I really did that and I was majorly ticked off! ha!)
That's it for tonight. My tummy isn't feeling so good so I think I'll head to bed early and get a good night's rest. :)
I'll be back tomorrow for more Print & Cut Sneak Peek Shares...have a great night!
I had several requests to share my recipes for Macaroni Salad and Taco Soup so here goes. :)
Macaroni Salad
Elbow Macaroni (cooked & drained)
Ham (I used a package of deli ham and just chop it up)
Shredded Cheese
Red Onion, diced (just a little, not a whole onion)
Miracle Whip
Mrs. Dash Table Blend Seasoning
Mix all ingredients. I don't really measure anything, just add to taste.
Taco Soup
1 can corn (undrained)
2 cans beans (undrained) I use black beans.
1 can diced tomatoes (undrained)
1 lb. hamburger (cooked & drained)
2 pkgs. taco seasoning
1 pkg. Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing, dry
1 small can tomato sauce + 1 can water
Put all ingredients in crock pot. I usually cook it for about 4-5 hrs. Serve with sour cream, cheese and fritos or corn chips.
Enabling Alert!
Check out the great tips on using your Silhouette on the Quickutz Blog HERE. Great ideas for making your own "chipboard-like" accents, backgrounds and using the print & cut feature.
And if you have the Silhouette check out a new freebie shape available under the Purchase Online tab in your Craft Robo software:
New Product Focus Layout featuring new Bella Blvd
Here's a layout I did for the July 1st Garden at Two Peas featuring new Bella Blvd patterned papers:
(c) Two Peas In A Bucket
To be able to add layers for the title and number accent over the bright striped Bella Blvd paper, I added some vellum to mute the vibrant stripe a bit.
I loved both the bright dot paper and cupcake paper but the cupcake paper was a bit too busy for me so I punched cupcakes from the paper using a 1" circle punch and adhered them to the dot design on the polka dot paper. Perfect embellishment for my cupcake/birthday themed layout.
The border and cherry chipboard accents were from a CK Kit of the Month. I loved how well the embellishments matched the Bella Blvd papers.
I unexpectedly took a few days off from blogland. We had a big BBQ get together for the Fourth of July and the cleaning and cooking and preparing took a wee bit longer than I anticipated. It was a lovely weekend, though, and a nice little break. :)
The July 2009 Celebrate the Seasons class at Two Peas went live yesterday (the 5th of July). This month's sketch features a Fourth of July layout but could be easily used for other seasonal celebrations or events (Canada Day, July Birthdays, July Anniversaries, summer activities, etc.).
(c) Two Peas in a Bucket
Here is my layout, showcasing photos and memories from our 2007 Fourth of July:
Here's the video for this class, featuring tips & tricks for creating embellishments for this layout as well as tips & tricks for some of the tools used in completing the layout:
flourish_1019 (comes with the Silhouette software)
This layout is all about texture. I really wanted to create a lot of texture, without all the bulk. To do this, I used lots of textured papers (one of my very favorite things) and lots of die cutting and punching to create my own embellishments. I used Metallic Silver Paper, Cork Paper, Vellum and Velvet Papers to create my accents and title. So quick and fun. And I implemented some pre-made accents with my custom ones (the Jillibean Soup journaling sprouts). By layering the star embellishments right on top of the journaling sprouts I was able to create my own unique and custom accents for my layout. I wanted to show that you can use pre-made and custom die cuts together. :)
As always I have found things that I need. Okay, maybe not need but I want them...badly. I am working on an order this evening. And if you need someone to order SU from I highly recommend, Jackie Wright. This gal is true gem. :)
There are several message style stamp sets that I love. Great basics that never go out of style. I love to have lots of options for card-making and SU are some of my very favorites.
New ink colors. Check them out. I'm going to be picking up a few of these. Bright and fun!
The new Garden is up at Two Peas and this month's theme is: Fashion Inspired! Love this theme.
I happened to see this t-shirt online at Old Navy, I think, and it immediately sparked the idea of using some amazing new boy-ish Silhouette die cut designs from the incredible Kerri Bradford.
the inspiration:
the layout:
(c) Two Peas in a Bucket
Ethan got this cute little motorcycle this past spring and was absolutely enamored with it (until his sister broke it...that's a whole other story). I love how these die cut designs go perfectly with this page/theme. And I used only cardstock, no patterned paper. I rarely, rarely just use cardstock only. And I love the results. I think it can be hard to find just the right embellishments for real "boy" pages. I freely admit the butterflies and flowers and girly touches come easier to me but having the right tools for the page made this masculine layout come together so easy! Love die cuts. Love the abundance of choices available. Love that this page doesn't say "girl" at all.
Click HERE for additional photos, the supply list and more information.
Want to see all the Silhouette designs I used on this layout?
Here you go:
checkerboard_border_sm_1718
checkerboard_title_1603
flame_1727
grate_grunge_1609
motorcyclists_1630
My process for this layout took a little work. I had originally planned something completely different and I had already printed all my photos and really didn't want to waste paper or ink reprinting them so I decided to just make them work.
For the left side of the layout I grouped the 2 larger photos together and resized my title die cut to help balance out the photo heavy bottom of the left side of the layout. Because I used a white cardstock background and lots of black accents I wanted to add lots of color with the die cuts (yellow and red) for visual interest. The chipboard title, brads (on the wheels) and star accent all add dimension to the page.
(c) Two Peas in a Bucket
The right side is mostly photos but I wanted an interesting way to add interest. I accomplished this by adding the checkerboard die cut border between the two rows of photos. Then to add interest to the black and white page I die cut a grungy grate out of yellow and gray, embellished it with rub-ons and added colorful red and yellow flames. Finally I tied both sides of the layout together with more chipboard stars adorned with embellishments.
(c) Two Peas in a Bucket
I just love the endless ways fashion can influence and inspire our choices for scrapbooking.
Here's another quick card utilizing several of the die cut shapes from the Silhouette June 18th release.
I wanted to show that certain "themed" shapes can be used for more than just one thing. (i.e. this rocket might be thought more of for the 4th of July holiday or for fireworks, etc. but it looks super cute used for this birthday card. Perfect for a boy (and I am always looking for more boy-ish themed items for cards and scrapbooking!).
The circle background was a leftover from THIS layout. I had used the inside yellow circles and had this left over so what better to do than make a quick card with it! I resized the design to a 5" square so I just cut my cardstock down to size (10" x 5"), rounded the corners using THIS wonderful tool (I don't know how I lived without it!) and then I adhered the die cut background to the card.
I printed a greeting on a strip of white cardstock using a couple of TwoPeas fonts that I love (included in the supply list below) and then I die cut the rocket out of black, blue and red cardstocks. I ungrouped the image and only cut certain pieces from each of the colors before assembling the design on my card.
Finally I added scallop borders and machine stitched down both sides. A star gem completed the rocket.
This would make a great 4th of July invite or card as well!
I am a little late posting this but last week the fabulous Shari Carroll hosted an entire week of Complimentary Colors on the Hero Arts Blog and I was asked to play along with Friday's complimentary combination of red + green.
Now, usually when you think of these two colors together you immediately think of Christmas. Check out Friday's Blog Post for great ideas that don't have anything to do with the December holiday.
Here's my layout, featuring some fun shots I took of Payton last fall one afternoon after school. She was so proud to show me her A+ from her spelling test.
Lots and lots of stamping on this one. The red background with the white flowers was stamped and embossed. The large butterflies were all stamped and embossed as well as the word "happy" in the title. I stamped the smaller butterflies + some phrases for the title and the circles at the top of the page to finish it up.
Two Peas now has in stock some of my very favorite things offered from Ranger:
Claudine Hellmuth's Studio Paint: I played with these a couple of months ago at a scrapbook retreat.Jennifer & Jana were sweet enough to let me try out these paints. They are amazing. A must-have. Totally unlike any other paint I've ever used. I used them for THIS project and I just placed an order for all the colors from 2Peas. Now, you may be thinking that you don't see all the colors you may want. Here's what you do: you can mix the colors to create a whole arsenal of additional colors to paint with.Amazing. Click HERE for a great pdf on how to mix the colors. I really can't say enough great things about them. :)
15x18 Non Stick Craft Sheet by Ranger: Another must-have. I just got mine but it's another one of those things I tried out at the scrapbook retreat. It provides an amazing work surface to play with your distress inks and foam applicator tool, embossing powders, a palette to mix the paints linked above, you name it. And the best part? When you're done, you simply wipe it clean. So easy. If you want to see it in action, check out Jennifer McGuire's Thinking Inking Video HERE or HERE. Now that I finally have one of my own you will be seeing a lot of it in future videos. :)
Mini Misters by Ranger: Jennifer used this for THESE projects and they are fabulous. You can use them to water down the Studio paints too (Miss Jana schooled me in the ways of watering down white paint. I was a slooooow learner! ha!)
And just one more enabler alert:
My good friend, Jana, has a couple of giveaways on her blog today in association with a card she created for Eclectic Paperie. Check it out HERE.
Our family loves DisneyWorld and we've been quite a few times. It's always a great vacation and such a great way to entertain the kids (both the little kids and us bigger kids at heart). :)
The problem is finding an effective way of scrapbooking and recording those memories. I literally have hundreds and hundreds of photos from our various trips to Orlando. I have scrapbooked some traditionally. Several years ago I put together an entire album of our first trip there. I was still using a film SLR camera, no digital yet so I scrapped with prints I'd had developed.
Then I quickly fell behind on subsequent travels. Once I got my Digital SLR camera I discovered Photobooks by Photoworks and I did several years worth of vacations digitally. Here are a few of those...
I still think these books are a great and easy way to record vacation memories (especially if you want to include every photo) but I have undergone a complete rethinking of my scrapbooking/memory keeping process and where I still enjoy minibooks from time to time, overall I want to be able to keep all my memories in our family albums chronologically. Now, I certainly don't scrapbook chronologically but as I finish layouts, I put them in the appropriate album in our family room. I use THESE 3-ring albums for all my layouts. So quick and easy to add pages and layouts to these and they are great quality.) And vacations and travels are a part of our family life. I want to be able to look at those memories in the my albums, not go searching for a special album for every vacation we've ever taken. So I am paper and glueing my vacation layouts again. :) I may not get every shot into my family albums (that's what Photobooks will be good for) but I can still create nice summarized layouts to include in our family albums that tell the story perfectly.
That's what I started on the layout below. I chose to keep the focus very much on the photos, using minimal embellishments and using only cardstock. (I am having a love affair with American Crafts cardstock so using only cardstock was super easy! ha!) But the layered circle design still gives that feeling of patterned paper and adds a pop of color (or colour, I like that spelling much better!) as well.
I created this using a new Silhouette background from the June 18th release (circle_background_1724).
I resized the design to 5" square and cut it out three times: once in black, once in yellow and once in red. I adhered the black design to my layout using Krylon Spray Adhesive. Then I adhered circles from the yellow and red designs randomly to my layout to create a unique and colorful background for my page embellishments.
To create the Mickey Mouse symbol I actually just welded 3 circles together in my Silhouette Software program and cut it out. I resized some numbers and cut them out as well and adhered them right to my customized "Mickey". I love how that just pops off that circle background. This was so easy and quick to do!
I created the photostrip up at the top of the layout by resizing those photos to 2"x3" each and then creating a new document in Photoshop and printing them out as one strip. I changed the large photo to black & white and resized it to 5"x5" and adhered it right next to the circle backgorund.
The flourish is a design that comes with the Silhouette Software. I have shown it here before because I use it all the time. It is definitely one of my favorites.
For the title, I found a great Walt Disney font download online HERE. I just typed my text into the Silhouette program and cut it out to size for my layout using black cardstock. So easy.
I finished my title page with machine stitching, my MM notch tool and brads. That's it.
Now this layout could be the start of it's very own album but I am choosing to just place it in my 2008 scrapbook chronologically. It will be the start of more Disney Vacation layouts to come. :)
Digital Elements (Ali Edwards & Katie Pertiet at Designer Digitals)
Notch Tool (Making Memories)
Brads (Making Memories)
I was asked a couple of weeks ago by Tamekia "how I plan/design my layouts" and if I would "share a bit about my process". I thought that I could do just that by sharing how I put together another one of our vacation layouts.
Although this layout is very simple in design, the same basic process that I share below applies for even the most intricate layouts and cards I create.
I almost always start with a sketch. It doesn't always follow the sketch to the letter but the sketch allows me a good starting place for designing the page. I figure out my photos...how many...what sizes will work and then I plan the sketch from there.
This is a pretty rough design. You can see I originally thought I might make the largest photo 5"x8" but changed my mind as I decided to include more photots/embellishments.
Created this the other day using the watercolor technique with Ranger Distress Inks shown HERE. I am absolutely loving Jennifer McGuire's Thinking Inking Class. So fun.
I am not a very distress-y, vintage-y type girl so I am drawn more to the colorful distress inks: Worn Lipstick, Fired Brick, Peeled Paint, Spiced Marmalade were all used for this card. I threw in some Vintage Photo, too, since it's my favorite of the "brown" colors. :)
I punched the hearts out of cream cardstock using a Stampin' Up Heart Punch and dipped them in watercolors made from the Worn Lipstick, Fired Brick & Spiced Marmalade distress inks and mini mister as Jennifer outlined in her video HERE.
I punched the butterflies out of the same cream cardstock and dipped them in a watercolor combination of Vintage Photo, Fired Brick and Worn Lipstick Distress inks.
The leaf branch was die cut out of cream cardstock using the Silhouette and I did the same watercolor technique on it using Peeled Paint and Spiced Marmalade Distress inks.
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